Stokes leads Stroudsburg to 8-5 victory

Stokes recorded his 100th career hit and Stroudsburg advanced in the District 11 Class AAAA playoffs with an 8-5 victory over Emmaus on Wednesday.

Stokes drove in the go-ahead run as part of a six-run third inning as the Mounties advanced to play top-seed Whitehall in the semifinal Friday at Hackett Park in Easton.

"It feels great to get that out of the way," Stokes said. "We put hits together at the right time and came out on top."

Emmaus came out strong against Stroudsburg junior right-hander Joey DePerno, putting up one run in the first inning on two first-pitch hits, and another run in the second.

The Mountaineers struggled to put hits together in the first two innings, but mounted a six-run comeback in the third to take a 6-2 lead against Emmaus right-hander Luke Miller.

Sophomore TJ Backer drove a double to right for the Mounties, scoring two runs to even the score 2-2. That is when senior first base man and pitcher Stokes drove in the tie-breaking RBI that put Stroudsburg on top 3-2, putting his 100th career hit in the books.

The Mounties tacked on another three runs, led by a two-RBI double from junior left-fielder Bruce Breithaupt, who went 2-3 with three RBIs.

Emmaus kept the game interesting, adding one run in the fifth off of Stokes — which Stroudsburg answered with a run of their own — and two more in the sixth to close the gap to 7-5.

Stroudsburg stayed on top though, scoring an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a ground-ball error to short, scoring DePerno.

Stokes closed out the game with a solid seventh inning, recording a strikeout against Emmaus catcher Joel Bartoni and getting two flyouts from juniors Jared Miller and Jacob Pacheco.

"This is the first time we've won 19 games here," coach Phil Stokes said. "Emmaus is a good team, they kept it close. They battled us. I have to give a lot of credit to our kids for working through it. I'm proud of the way they've gone through the season and put together good games against quality opponents. I'm just proud of our team for earning the opportunity to continue in district playoffs and represent our school."

Stroudsburg gets a rematch against the Zephrys.

"We had a rough game against them in districts last year," Philip Stokes said. "We're looking for a little retaliation and redemption this time."